‘It Will Be Good If...’: Chidambaram Reaches Out To Mamata Amid Congress-TMC Turf War

The former union minister also hailed Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s recent remark that there cannot be an opposition front without the Congress party.

Congress leader P. Chidambaram (File Pic)

New Delhi: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took a swipe at the Congress with her “no UPA” barb, former union minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday said it will be good for the country if both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the grand old party having different approaches can converge.

“Mamata Banerjee has a different approach, we have a different approach, it will be good for the country if both approaches can converge,” ANI quoted Chidambaram as saying.

The former union minister also hailed Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s recent remark that there cannot be an opposition front without the Congress party.

“Sanjay Raut made a responsible statement that we need a non-BJP opposition in the country and Congress must take the lead to bring all UPA parties together,” he said.

Raut, who met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi earlier on Tuesday, categorically stated that there can be no opposition front without the Congress.

“We had a long conversation about political developments…Discussions about keeping the opposition together also happened in the meeting. We have always maintained that if there is an opposition front, then it is not possible without Congress,” Raut said after the meeting.

The Shiv Sena leader said that a joint meeting of the opposition parties should be convened to discuss the way forward for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“I have told Rahul ji to take a lead in this, and work openly towards it (bringing the opposition together),” he said.

Earlier last week, Banerjee after her meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at his Silver Oak residence in Mumbai declared “there is no UPA now” and said it will be “very easy to defeat the BJP” if “all regional parties are together”.

The TMC chief, who is continuously pitching for a strong alternative at the national level but indirectly taking on the grand old party after her party’s landslide victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls held earlier this year, was part of the Congress-led UPA that remained in power at the Centre for 10 years from 2004 to 2014 when the BJP came to power.